1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a target route generation system configured to generate a target route for a robot to travel along autonomously.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a technical method (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-195969) which generates travel route candidates by joining a present position of a robot capable of traveling autonomously and a destination position designated by a user through a plurality of nodes predefined as travel point candidates for the robot to travel through in a travel region.
According to the conventional method, the travel route candidates are generated under a condition that there is no obstacle in the connection line between the nodes and an interval between two adjacent nodes is equal to or smaller than a predefined threshold (5 m). The travel route with the shortest distance from the present position to the destination position of the robot among the travel route candidates is defined as the target route for the robot.
However, if the target route is defined according to the conventional method, it is possible that the robot will have to travel by deviating from some travel points which should be traveled through by the robot in view of a state of the robot.
On the other hand, if the travel points which should be traveled through by the robot are fixed, the robot may be forced to travel in a detoured route along some travel points with a low necessity in view of the state thereof.